After five albums and four EPs together (five, if we’re including collabs with icons of Southern hip-hop), it seems like it’s finally starting to hit Phantogram’s Sarah Barthel and Josh Carter just how much time has passed since their 2010 breakout LP Eyelid Movies. Their new album Memory of a Day feels entirely lost in time, with lyrics focusing on a nostalgia for the past and the inevitability of death in the future all while concentrating on the illusion of linear time—which has felt particularly nonlinear in the past four years. “It was all a mystery to us how we came together to become a band, and 14 years later, we’re bewildered that we’ve been doing this for so long,” the duo shares in their track-by-track breakdown of the project.
Meanwhile the music itself undergoes a similar confusion, balancing as it does a list of unusual reference points spanning the past 60-odd years of rock music (Beastie Boys, Godspeed You! Black Emperor, Prince, and The Cure all get name-dropped as influences) while continuing to push indietronica into the future, as has always been Phantogram’s MO. Beneath all of that, though, is an undeniable sense of road-tested chemistry that almost makes it sound like Memory of a Day could’ve been written in the duo’s sleep—to hear them tell it, nearly every one of these dozen tracks came together quickly after Barthel spilled some gibberish lyrics or Carter laid down an engaging drumbeat.
With the record out now via Neon Gold, check out the duo’s full track-by-track breakdown below. You can also find a list of their 2025 North American tour dates celebrating the release of Memory of a Day kicking off January 15 in Las Vegas here.
1. “Jealousy”
“Jealousy” started from a sample that Josh found, from which he created a cool drum pattern. He brought it to Sarah’s studio and we began to write around it. While we were writing, the word “jealousy” kept coming up, and from there we were able to craft the rest of the song.
2. “It Wasn’t Meant to Be”
“It Wasn’t Meant to Be” came from an idea that we’ve been holding onto for a very long time. We keep a folder of beats and song ideas that we revisit during our creative process. This specific idea is over a decade old, from before we even started Phantogram, but one we’ve been trying to crack for a long time. During the pandemic, we took a trip up to Oregon where we spent a couple weeks writing and were finally able to figure this one out.
3. “All a Mystery”
“All a Mystery” is a song about embracing and surrendering to the absurdity of life and existence in general. The name of the track is a line that we used to sing often when we first started writing songs for Phantogram. The two of us would sing it and harmonize it together. Back then, it was all a mystery to us how we came together to become a band, and 14 years later, we’re bewildered that we’ve been doing this for so long. This song touches on love, life, death, and loss. It digs into memories and the wonder of existence. It examines the push and pull of time on this planet, and being able to share the experience of everything all at once as a mere grain of sand on an endless beach.
4. “Feedback Invisible”
“Feedback Invisible” was inspired by post-punk NYC rhythmic music like ESG, Beastie Boys, and Liquid Liquid, with a touch of psychedelic energy. We wanted to make something funky with a sense of urgency. We started with some drum breaks on a vintage Ludwig kit that we tuned and mic’d up for a vintage, kind of late-’60’s/early-’70s vibe, and looped them with a bunch of percussion: wood blocks, shakers, tambourines, etc. One of our favorite parts of playing the percussion on this one was freestyling on the rototoms. Aside from the breakbeat loops on kit, most of the percussion is completely live takes throughout the entire song.
5. “Attaway”
“Attaway” is a song about wanting to help a friend, but not being able to get to them. It’s about accepting that they’re going to do what they want to do, and there’s nothing you can do to help. “Attaway” is a word we made up as a play on the expression “atta boy,” or “there ya go!”—like looking at a face with no soul, a one thousand-yard stare, or a party full of fake, plastic, sneering socialites. It’s a song about running out of answers and just giving in and taking another pill.
6. “Running Through Colors”
The concept for this song came from us talking about our dreams and waking life—what is real and what isn’t anymore. It’s about losing people and places you love and trying to hold onto any thread left of them, but realizing that everything changes or goes away, eventually. This song is about running desperately, chasing memories, and realizing everything is nothing all at once. “Running Through Colors” is a dreamscape that makes you feel like you’re running through a field of colors.
7. “I Wanna Know”
Often when we write, we sing gibberish or whatever words come to mind. The words “I wanna know” were the first thing we sang when we started working on this song. The song took its own form based on an unanswered question that we’re trying to get to the bottom of and the sensation that builds with it that ultimately burns itself down. These feelings and questions lead us to build a song into oblivion, inspired by bands like Mogwai and Godspeed You! Black Emperor, with the constant crescendo. It’s a song about just wanting to know what life and our existence is all about, and perhaps less about building up to burn it down, but rather a snake eating its own tail: an ouroboros.
8. “Ashes”
“Ashes” was a really fun song to put together. The vocal lines started out as gibberish and the hook you hear is just singing with no words. Sonically, we knew we wanted to make something lush and hazy, but also heavy to create a slow, emotional song. It started from the two of us playing together at Sarah’s studio, with Sarah on keys and Josh on guitar to come up with the basic underlick. From there, Josh programmed a beat and we were thinking this could be a love song, but in the vein of someone like Prince—a song about losing someone you love and yearning to get them back. The chorus is about trusting that everything will be OK—rising like a phoenix—yet there’s always an underlying feeling that you’re not good enough or deserved of anything beautiful in this world.
9. “Come Alive”
“Come Alive” started with a beat that we made using analog synths and a drum machine. The lyrics came from spit-balling about the idea of a life calendar—a calendar of how many weeks the average human would live if they lived until 80. We stumbled across one one day, which led to a discussion about how precious and fleeting life is and how we should just live life and come alive. There are so many ways to perceive time—a hummingbird’s heart rate can be between 225-1200 BPMs, a dog’s year is seven human years, a fly is born and dies in the same day—but we can only really measure our own time by feeling or “coming alive.”
10. “Move in Silence”
This was the first song we worked on for this album. Josh made a beat and sang throughout the session to the chord progression, with the chorus and lyrics following. This song is about holding your cards close to your chest. It’s about being wronged and screwed over by people you thought you could trust and constantly being wary of manipulation.
11. “Happy Again”
“Happy Again” came together early on in our album-making process with John Hill. We’d started making a folder of drum breaks to write songs around and were influenced by a blend of late-’60s/early-’70s soul, as well as the synth-heavy drone of bands like Slowdive or The Cure. The three of us started jamming and messing around with guitar pedals, really taking advantage of John’s vintage equipment, and the song came together really naturally. This song has a bittersweet message and a cool vibe that we’re really proud of.
12. “Memory of a Day”
“Memory of a Day” is a song about longing for someone or something that you can’t have anymore. It’s meant to evoke emotion and a memory specific to you as the listener. Josh started writing this song when his dog was dying and had to make the difficult decision to put him down. The dog was clearly in pain and it needed to end. The lyrics are written from the perspective of the dog (“I’m not afraid of dying, or what it feels like”) and with the knowledge that they lived a good life filled with love. This song represents lasting memories: many, flashing, fiery, exquisite memories of days, weeks, years, of both future and past.
